Member-only story
The Problem Of Learning While Earning
Or, “Attempting to better oneself in a system designed to reward stagnation.”
I always put up a high bar for people that encounter me during interview, and I hope you do too — if you’re a suitably progressive engineer toiling to improve the Grand Game of Software Engineering, and intent on fighting off the hordes of wannabes, “web guys”, and various kinds of lifestyle bloggers that tend to be attracted to any job spec these days.
This, I believe, is because I think of myself more of a computer scientist than a software engineer. That is, I view the fundamentals as really important, I value a formal education over YouTube, and I really do think that genuinely good programmers have a certain type¹.
Oh, that formal education thing? That’s where you’re taught things in person, have to do difficult exercises by yourself, and very definitely have to do exams that are invigilated — where it’s hard to cheat or game the system in some way…
i.e. You can’t cheat like when you use ChatGPT in your LinkedIn assessments².
Yes, sometimes I let people through if there’s the flicker of curiosity in their eyes, something that just needs a little time, and nurturing, to burst fully into life. And, of course, if they prefer spaces over tabs. Come on.
